BUNTING, Bill
[Photo Album]: Memory of South Viet-Nam Vietnam. [circa 1960s]. Quarto measuring 9" x 11.5". Green cloth with "Memory of South Viet-Nam" stamped on the front board with a map of Vietnam. Contains 78 color snap shot photographs and 9 black and white photographs measuring between 3.5" x 3.5" and 3.5" x 5" without captions. Very good album with some spotting and short tears with near fine photographs.A photo album kept by Bill Bunting while serving in Vietnam in the late 1960s. The album cover title reads, "Memory of South Viet-Nam" and the first page has a cartoon rabbit with "I'm just a hop from home" written above it. Bunting is referred to by a variety of nicknames including "Papa Whiskey," "Pee Wee Bill," and "Smoke Bringer." Throughout the album the men Bunting served with are depicted in their barracks listening to records, entertaining local girls, and posing for photos with friends. The outfit was made up of several races and Bunting, who was white, was friendly with an Asian American soldier and an African American soldier, both photographed numerous times in this album. On the front pastedown of the album some fellow soldiers wrote messages to Bill saying goodbye and wishing him good luck. "Papa Whiskey - Good luck to you when you get back to the world. Take care of all the broads and stay out of trouble." Another reads "when the power of love overcomes the love for power then we shall have peace." One photo shows the men dancing on a stage with a Vietnamese band and two Vietnamese women dancers during a USO style event. Helicopters, jeeps, one which they named "Whispering Death," and airplanes are also seen throughout the album as well as the landscape around the barracks. Men are posed in the bunks, by jeeps, and in one photo by rows of ammunition. The men are also photographed during their leisure activities enjoying bottles of whiskey and smoking. The last page has some newspaper clippings including two poems "When Death Comes" and "A Soldier's Fate." Another clipping with the headline "Nixon Confronts Boy, 10 'Your Brother is in Heaven'" is also featured in this section. The album ends with "I only wish that I was still over there now - Pee Wee Bill" written on the rear pastedown.A nice collection of Vietnam war photography from a young soldier. .
[Bookseller: Between the Covers- Rare Books, Inc. ABA]